


something in the air

by hajiiwa



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Fluff, M/M, Mild Language, Mutual Pining, Other Characters Referenced/In The Background, mild sexual references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-23 04:05:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13182000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hajiiwa/pseuds/hajiiwa
Summary: “Well, we’re sophomores now,propercollege kids,” Takahiro muses. “We’re lying on a roof during some shitty party, staring at the stars. Contemplating the future seems fitting.”There’s a short stretch of silence between them. “I don’t like thinking about the future.”Takahiro knew that. “You have to eventually, man. Can’t avoid it forever.”





	something in the air

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NicheTales](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NicheTales/gifts).



> hey avery, hope you like your gift!

“So what’re you gonna do after this?”

Hanamaki Takahiro watches as his companion tilts his head back, drains his water bottle. “After we get off of this roof, you mean?”

“Obviously that’s not what I meant, Issei.” Takahiro rolls his eyes. “Plus, I know exactly what you’re going to do after this. You’re gonna walk home with me, collapse into bed without brushing your teeth like some kind of  _animal_ , and clock out for fifteen hours.”

Matsukawa Issei points a finger gun at him and pulls the trigger. “You got me pegged, blondie.”

“I’m not blond. It’s auburn.”

“Is it? I don’t really know  _what_ color it is.”

“I guess I don’t know either. I just know that it’s fuckin’ hot.” Takahiro leans back and yawns. “Wait, you dodged my question.”

Issei smiles mischievously. “Did I? Sorry, I hadn’t noticed.”

“You liar!” exclaims Takahiro. “Answer my question, slippery man.”

Issei snorts, lies down next to him. “Why are you suddenly so interested?”

“Well, we’re sophomores now,  _proper_ college kids,” Takahiro muses. “We’re lying on a roof during some shitty party, staring at the stars. Contemplating the future seems fitting.”

There’s a short stretch of silence between them. “I don’t like thinking about the future.”

Takahiro knew that. “You have to eventually, man. Can’t avoid it forever.”

“I don’t like the feeling of… growing up,” Issei says reluctantly. Takahiro glances over at him and swallows. “I didn’t like it when I was ten and I certainly don’t like it when I’m twenty.”

Takahiro shifts, propping his chin up on his fist and gazing down at him. His elbow digs into the slatted roof as Issei’s eyes flicker over to him. “Why not?”

A slight crease forms in Issei’s forehead. “Is talking about it necessary?”

“The specifics? Maybe not. But give me something.” Takahiro drums his fingers against his jawline. “S’not like you’re totally alone in what you’re feeling, so.”

Issei remains quiet for a second, pondering, maybe a little reluctant. “I don’t know how to phrase it.”

“Just try.”

Takahiro gets a sharp glance tossed his way. “Your sudden interest is off-putting. Since when have you been so interested in my escapism?”

“Since I met you. Aloofness is your thing, or so I’ve learned.” Takahiro shifts and manages to dig his elbow into Issei’s side. “So please, man, just lemme know something. I’m curious and I wanna help.”

Issei sighs through his nose, long-suffering and defeated. “I dunno, ‘Hiro, I told you. Making my own big life decisions is scary. I’ve already lost the support net of being a kid, so fucking up is, like– expected. And I don’t like talking about it because it reminds me that we’re already halfway through our time here, so.”

There’s another stretch of silence, terse and heavy. “I mean, or something like that.”

“Hey, fuck you, man. That was deep stuff, don’t leave me hanging with an ‘or something’, that’s a coward’s way out.” Takahiro grins down at his old friend, wanting to make things light-hearted again, laughing when he scowls. “You know, for such a big, swarthy guy, you really can’t pull off looking mad.”

Issei blinks, apparently taking a moment to adjust to the change in tone. He chuckles after a second. “I can too. Also,  _swarthy_?”

Takahiro just smirks. “Um, you’re  _welcome_ , ungrateful cretin.”

“Ugh, don’t. I hate that word.” Issei shakes his head, disgruntled, and just like that his seriousness from before was gone without a trace. “So dumb. My first girlfriend broke up with me because she didn’t like my quote-unquote  _swarthy palette_. Who says shit like that? I know I’ve got looks. Fuck that.”

“Yeah, fuck that,” Takahiro echoes, albeit a little unenthusiastically. “God. Your first girlfriend was a dick. I don’t know why you dated her.”

Issei shrugs. “She was pretty. Fair hair, fair skin, long legs. You know the drill.”

Takahiro purses his lips. “Not really.”

“No?” Issei glances over.

“I’m fuckin’ gay, Iss’. Do you really not know that?”

Issei blinks slowly. “I sort of knew,” he says after a moment, brow creased a little in thought. Below them, someone bursts out into laughter, silence by getting a bucket of water poured over them. Takahiro hears it splash onto the ground before flopping back against the roof with a sigh.

“You’re so self-absorbed. I haven’t exactly been  _out_ but one would think that someone I spend so much time with would have figured that out by now.”

“I knew,” defends Issei. “You’re my best friend. We live together. Of course I know you’re gay.”

Takahiro snorts a little. “Right, yeah. You wouldn’t have given a shit unless I sat you down, wrung my hands, and stammered out how much I like men.”

“That’s not true,” Issei says breezily. “I appreciate that you essentially just came out to me.”

“Why ‘essentially’?”

“Well, I sort of knew, didn’t I? So it doesn’t count as the full shebang.”

“Well  _I_ hate  _that_ word.”

“What, ‘shebang’?”

“Yeah. We’re talking about how much of a big fat homo I am and you just used the word comprised of ‘she’ and ‘bang’. Have you learned nothing?”

Issei tilts his head back and laughs, clear and low, the one that made a smile stretch over his face from ear to ear. “That’s totally fair. It’s like talking to straight women about a mandate.”

“Exactly. Man-date. Now that’s something I could get behind.”

“Or on top of.”

Takahiro winks. “Now you’re getting there.”

Issei is still grinning when he sits up a little, taking his empty water bottle and throwing it over the roof with careful aim. Takahiro peers over as it lands directly into the hair of someone standing below them. Kuroo Tetsurou tilts his head far back enough that it falls and flips them both off. “That’s littering, assholes.”

“It was his fault,” Takahiro and Issei both defend in unison. Tetsurou just rolls his eyes, snatching up the bottle and throwing it at someone else.

Issei nudges him. “So, now that you’re officially a homosexual, give me your opinions on guys.”

Takahiro raises his eyebrows. “Which guys?”

“Oh, I dunno.” Issei tilts his head. “Tetsurou. Lord,  _I_ would bang that guy.”

“I thought you were into blondes?”

“I am. But he’s hot and I’m open-minded.” Issei licks his lips, revealing the flash of a tongue piercing. Takahiro swallows hard. “Well?”

“Erm… yeah, he’s hot,” Takahiro agrees after a second. “Sharp eyes, dark hair, rockin’ bod. I’d hit that.”

Issei chuckles quietly. “I know a few people that fit your description of who you would hit.”

_Yourself_? “Oh, really? Like who?”

Issei fixes him with a heavy-lidded stare. “Ushiwaka,” he says. Hanamaki chokes on his spit.

“God, no, get  _out_ of here! I would not bang that!”

“You totally would.”

“I would  _not_.”

“He fits your criteria, Takahiro!”

“Fine. But if I have to bang that emotionless monster then you have to bang  _Tendou Satori_.”

Issei gasps in horror. “What? No! He’s not a blond!”

Takahiro cackles. “I don’t care. He’s got fair skin and long legs. Those are your requirements, right?”

“He’s got red eyes and that weird cat mouth. I feel like he would eat me in my sleep.”

“You might like that, you never know.”

“Ugh.” Issei rolls his eyes. “Whatever. You don’t have to bang Ushiwaka and I don’t have to bang Tendou. Are we even?”

Takahiro smirks. “For now.”

“Tendou has a boyfriend, anyway. I ain’t no housewrecker.” Issei stretches his legs out and yawns. “Time?”

“One fifty.”

“Mmm. Then I guess it’s time to head home.” Takahiro sighs heavily through his nose, closing his eyes, suddenly and rather shockingly feeling subdued by the notion of having to drag himself up and go home. It had been a long day, and Issei seems to sense this, since Takahiro feels an arm drape around his shoulders.

“Yep. Guess so.”

They clamber down from the roof after a few minutes of persuading themselves, silently grateful that neither of them had drank when they see people their age retching into their hands, singing off-tune at the top of their lungs, sloppily making out with strangers with no regard for anyone else. Their apartment isn’t far so they opt to just walk home, crisp spring air blanketing them, and the stars still shining so far, far above.

When they arrive Issei unlocks the door, fumbling with his keys only for a second, flicking on the dim hall light and kicking off his shoes. Takahiro stares at it for a second, spots glaring into his vision, watching it sputter before going out. They’re plunged into darkness and Issei just sighs.

“Stupid thing,” Issei grumbles, cursing to himself as he walks into the living room and gropes around for the lamp. Takahiro is slower to react, carefully aside his sweater and blinking back against drowsiness. Issei finds the switch and flicks it on, warm light filling the room, and their eyes meet.

Nothing should be different but here they are, standing twenty feet apart with their gazes locked and the tension between them palpable. Issei glances away first and Takahiro follows suit in a heartbeat, something akin to guilt rising in his chest.

Was Issei really okay with him being out? Was his humor genuine or just another way to escape reality, a reality he didn’t like? Had he meant what he’d said about Tetsurou, about being open minded, about his  _type_? Would it go both ways?

Would Issei be attracted to him if he were a girl?

Or would it not matter either way?

“Oi, ‘Hiro. Snap out of it.”

Takahiro jolts, gut churning, expression contorting. Issei is closer, now, leaning against the doorway and surveying him with an odd look. He sighs.

“Listen, um… I feel like I should maybe bring this up,” he says slowly, and Takahiro glances up in confusion, “now that you’re… talking about it. About being gay.”

That puzzlement quickly turns to dread in Takahiro’s throat. God, he is gonna be uncomfortable, he’s gonna assume that Takahiro wants to sleep with him and even though that’s  _true_ , it’s not gonna hurt any less, Issei is gonna look at him differently and act differently and they’ll lose what they have–

“I used to, kinda… have a crush on you. Way back when.”

Takahiro freezes, his eyes widening, a sort of panicked excitement spilling into his veins and pumping him full of sudden adrenaline. “What did you say?”

God. Issei is  _blushing_.

“You know. A while ago.” Issei scratches his neck. “When we met in high school. I guess you just kinda… checked all my boxes.”

Oh.

Oh  _wow_.

That’s certainly development.

“But I’m over it now,” Issei says very hastily, shooting him a look that just makes Takahiro grin. “Don’t go filling that pretty little head of yours with silly notions.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” answers Takahiro in a lilting voice. “But you called me  _pretty_ ~.”

“I– what– no, I didn’t. I called your head pretty. Now pull it out of your ass.”

“You said I checked all your boxes! I have literally not changed in the past four years, Issei-kun~~.”

“Quit talking like that, oh my god, you sound like Oikawa.”

“Are you my smitten little Iwa-chan~~~?”

“Shut the  _fuck_ up. Please.”

Takahiro just cackles, a huge grin tugging the corners of his mouth up. Issei rolls his eyes and gives a heavy sigh. “Just go to bed, you gay fuck.”

“That makes two of us,” Takahiro hums as he breezes past Issei and smirks.

Behind him, Issei just smiles.


End file.
